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Organised by
RogerDodger
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2000–25000
Overprotecting and Overreacting:What if Chrysalis Never Existed?
Twilight was alone in the hall room of the castle. Several moments before she confronted Cadance. Princess ran away in tears and all ponies left after her. Even guards decided to left the room.
Tears fell from her face, pouring down on the floor. She sat in this position for several minutes, thinking about how she failed her princess and friends.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Cadance. Mi Amora Cadenza entered the room, closed the door, cautiously to not let it bang too loud, walked across the room and stood closely in front of still weeping Twilight.
“I'm so sorry, Princess”, Twilight sniffed and poked her muzzle into the feathers of Princess Cadance.
“Twilight. It was so saddening for me to hear all these accusations. Especially after all of the years we spent together.” Cadance sighed and petted Twilight's head.
“I just... I just wanted to protect my friends. I didn't want to seem them hurt. And then. And then... And I don't know what came over me.”
“I know, Twilight, “ Cadance hugged Twilight with her wings. She put her head on top of Twilight and snuggled her with the chin. “You thought about friends. And though I still don't feel easy after all your words, I couldn't see all them leaving you. ”
“Could you forgive me?” Twilight sniffled again.
“I'm surely can. But your brother is still too angry. I think it will be better if you listen him and leave the wedding. I'll try to calm him down.“
“I understand.”
After several minutes they broke the embrace and parted their ways.
Day later Twilight woke up when sun was in zenith. The night didn't calm her even a bit.
She as usual went down to a kitchen and mechanically ate some salad. She did not notice Spike and decided that he went for a walk. Right after the breakfast, just as usual, she stood in the front of a mirror and groomed her hair, not even trying to focus the sight on the reflection. Result didn't end up being any good, but Twilight was not in the mood to pay attention. Her thoughts were in disarray, but any time she tried to think more clearly, she recalled previous day in way more details than she wanted. She relied more on mechanical memory than anything to lead her through the morning chores.
“Oh, Twilight? Are you all right? You don't look good.“
Rarity and Rainbow Dash entered the library. They said something. Twilight caught the words that they were saying, but she still was too stressed to glue the meanings of these words together. Then there were more words, then again more words. She probably said something in greeting.
“We missed you, darling,”, finally Twilight's consciousness recognized what actually Rarity was saying.
“Well, we didn't miss your craziness, that I can tell for sure“, Rainbow Dash chuckled .
“Rainbow Dash”, Rarity loudly gasped.
Twilight lied on the sofa and levitated a pillow on top of her head.
“Uhh. I dunt muind. I thuink she is riught.” she said through the pillow.
“You need to go for a walk to cheer yourself up.”
“Yes, darling, listen to Rainbow. I too think, it's a good idea. Putting pillow on your head is just not good for your face” Rarity tried to grab pillow with magic and move it away.
“Yuah. Maybe latuer. Not nuw”. Twilight grasped the pillow with her magic again and interrupted Rarity attempt.
“Twilight?”
Silence. More silence. Twilight just did not had any will to face them.
“I think it will be better if we leave her for now“ Rarity whispered to Rainbow Dash.
“Well.. If you say so”. They left.
Several hours later Twilight decided to follow the advice and left the library. Weather was clean and sunny, birds happily chirped around and force field no longer was visible around the castle. None if this managed to made Twilight happier. In fact, she would prefer if it was heavy rain or snow, as she felt that even the weather was going against her, the only pony who behaved so bad at the wedding ceremony that she was thrown away by the groom and her own brother.
As she passed by other ponies, she heard murmurs around her. She thought that at this point rumors about what happened on the wedding already reached Ponyville. Fortunately, none of the ponies asked her about previous day.
After walking for a while without clear destination, first, Twilight thought about visiting Sugar Cube Corner. She quickly dismissed it: Pinkie Pie was always too cheerful pony, and Twilight decided that no amount of confetti will cheer her up, and in fact she was worried that it will make Pinkie Pie sad.
Instead, she went to Sweet Apple Acres.
Unfortunately, Twilight couldn't approach working Applejack and Big McIntosh in worse time: the day of Applejack didn't start too well. First, leaving her farm for participating in wedding meant that on her return she had more trees to buck. Big Mac didn't mind doing a little more work while Applejack was absent, but he could do only so much. To make things worse, beavers razed the barn once again to stole planks to build their own dams.
Applejack managed to sleep only three hours before starting the work and all sorts of troubles piled in such short amount of time made her head spin. If it was not enough, in the morning Cheerilee went by and said that Applebloom's performance in school declined recently and Applejack should spend more time, controlling that her sister is actually studying and not just trying to find her cutie mark.
“Ah say, we should build stronger fence. “ Big Mac tilted his head towards the remainings of the barn.
“Uhm, hello”. Twilight dug small hole in the ground with her hoof.
“And ah say we should forget about this at least 'til next year,” Applejack bucked a tree. “Heyah, Twilight. Long time no see”
“Uhm, I wanted to talk about yesterday.“ Twilight kicked small rock and looked on trajectory of its flight, not daring to look on Applejack.
“Big Mac, ya know that we don't have enough of money. Especially after we spent HALF OF ALL OF OUR SAVINGS on repairing the roof,” Applejack turned her head back to Twilight “Sugarcube, we are a little busy.”
“Eeyup, but if we don't manage to strengthen the fence, then beavers again will bite through it. And they'll raze other buildings. And we will have no money at all. Ah'm telling you, we need metal fence. At least on the part closer to the river.“
“Have you seen the prices of the fences?” She kicked another tree.
“Ah've seen the barn, Applejack. And Ah don't want to see our home in the same condition.”
Twilight stood silently listening their arguments for some period of time. Realizing that they have more serious problems, she went home.
It was the evening. Several hours after visiting the farm, Twilight gathered her thoughts together, analyzed last two days and finally decided her best course of actions. It was not easy decision for her, but sometimes hard decisions needed to be made.
Together with Spike and Owlowiscious she knocked on the door of Fluttershy's cottage. Her mood still was grim, but now she knew what had to be done, so she was much more resolved and confident.
“Oh, hello Twilight. Hello, guys”. Fluttershy opened the door. “Oh. I was just going to drink a tea, uhm, would you like to join, maybe?”
“Yeah, sure.“ Twilight forced a smile, while Fluttershy let them in and brought two more cups. For some time they just sipped the tea and discussed flora and fauna. Twilight had read several books about this topic, so she could easily talk with Fluttershy about all sort of migrations that occur in modern butterflies. She found this talk to be a little relaxing.
“Fluttershy.” Finally, Twilight decided to bring up the goal of her visit. “I want to ask you a favor.”
“Me? A favor? For you? I'm not quite sure if I'm capable...” Fluttershy wiggled on her pillow.
“I'm going for a little travel. It might take a while. Could you look after Spike and Owlowiscious for me, please?”
“I? Take care of owl? And baby dragon?” Judging by her voice, Fluttershy was really happy of such proposition.
“Good! I'll take this as 'yes'. Here, I brought a bag of gems.” Twilight opened her saddlebag and took large bag from it. ”This bag also has bits so you can buy more food for Spike and Owlowiscious. And you can take rest as payment for your service. There will be enough.”
Fluttershy didn't like to take money from her friends for taking care of their animals, but what if declining the money would be too rude? She definitely did not want to be ungrateful to her friends.
“Wait. Travel? You did not tell me.” Spike looked at Twilight. Most of the day he spend together with Cutie Mark Crusaders, and this definitely was news for him.
“And why are you leaving right now? It's so late now,“ Fluttershy looked through the window. Sun was almost gone already.
“I have a train tonight. I'm sorry, Spike, you weren't home when I went to buy the ticket,” Twilight lied. It was for the best.
“Will you be ok? I'm worrying about you” Fluttershy thought if she should ask about why Twilight is leaving, but decided that if Twilight doesn't want to tell her on her own, then it would be too rude to insist.
“Yes. Absolutely.“
“Can't I go with you, Twilight?” Spike once again looked at Twilight. Since she moved to Ponyville, they rarely traveled together as often as they were back in Canterlot.
“No. It's dealing with somewhat personal. You can guess what. Heh. Here, if you'll promise to behave yourself, you'll have this big, beautiful gem. Right now,“ Twilight levitated gem from bag almost as tall as Spike's head and stopped it in front of Spike.
“It will be my pleasure!” Spike licked and grabbed the gem. Spike liked Twilight, but he also liked the gems. So as far as he was concerned, if Twilight wanted him to stay and give him gem for it, it was win-win situation: having a gem and making Twilight happy was much better than having nothing at all and making Twilight angry or sad, after all. He ate gem.
“Fluttershy, you are expert at taking care of animals. That's why I'm asking you.”
“Well, uhm, all right. I'll do it”.
Shortly after that she went home. It was already dark, so she had to lighten the room with her spell. Levitating the quill, she started to write a letter.
“My dear Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike. I'd call you friends, but I don't think I deserve to be your friend anymore. I almost ruined the wedding of my own brother. I made all of you worried, even you have your own problems. And none of you deserve it.
“I put a huge burden on Cadance, who had to calm my brother. None of them deserved that.
“At this point, Celestia is probably hating me, so I can't continue studying anyway.
“I'm sincerely sorry that I lied about Spike and Owlowiscious to Fluttershy, but in the end I think I betrayed your trust so many times, that at this point I don't think one more time will matter. I love you all, but it will be better for all of us. I'm going far, far away, please don't look after me. I don't want any of you to worry about me ever again.“
She put the letter on the table under the book. Even if somepony enters, the letter would be hidden from the sight. That should give her enough of time.
“I heard that Everfree had beautiful, beautiful cliffs,“ Twilight said to no one as she went away from Ponyville without any intention to come back.
Tears fell from her face, pouring down on the floor. She sat in this position for several minutes, thinking about how she failed her princess and friends.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Cadance. Mi Amora Cadenza entered the room, closed the door, cautiously to not let it bang too loud, walked across the room and stood closely in front of still weeping Twilight.
“I'm so sorry, Princess”, Twilight sniffed and poked her muzzle into the feathers of Princess Cadance.
“Twilight. It was so saddening for me to hear all these accusations. Especially after all of the years we spent together.” Cadance sighed and petted Twilight's head.
“I just... I just wanted to protect my friends. I didn't want to seem them hurt. And then. And then... And I don't know what came over me.”
“I know, Twilight, “ Cadance hugged Twilight with her wings. She put her head on top of Twilight and snuggled her with the chin. “You thought about friends. And though I still don't feel easy after all your words, I couldn't see all them leaving you. ”
“Could you forgive me?” Twilight sniffled again.
“I'm surely can. But your brother is still too angry. I think it will be better if you listen him and leave the wedding. I'll try to calm him down.“
“I understand.”
After several minutes they broke the embrace and parted their ways.
Day later Twilight woke up when sun was in zenith. The night didn't calm her even a bit.
She as usual went down to a kitchen and mechanically ate some salad. She did not notice Spike and decided that he went for a walk. Right after the breakfast, just as usual, she stood in the front of a mirror and groomed her hair, not even trying to focus the sight on the reflection. Result didn't end up being any good, but Twilight was not in the mood to pay attention. Her thoughts were in disarray, but any time she tried to think more clearly, she recalled previous day in way more details than she wanted. She relied more on mechanical memory than anything to lead her through the morning chores.
“Oh, Twilight? Are you all right? You don't look good.“
Rarity and Rainbow Dash entered the library. They said something. Twilight caught the words that they were saying, but she still was too stressed to glue the meanings of these words together. Then there were more words, then again more words. She probably said something in greeting.
“We missed you, darling,”, finally Twilight's consciousness recognized what actually Rarity was saying.
“Well, we didn't miss your craziness, that I can tell for sure“, Rainbow Dash chuckled .
“Rainbow Dash”, Rarity loudly gasped.
Twilight lied on the sofa and levitated a pillow on top of her head.
“Uhh. I dunt muind. I thuink she is riught.” she said through the pillow.
“You need to go for a walk to cheer yourself up.”
“Yes, darling, listen to Rainbow. I too think, it's a good idea. Putting pillow on your head is just not good for your face” Rarity tried to grab pillow with magic and move it away.
“Yuah. Maybe latuer. Not nuw”. Twilight grasped the pillow with her magic again and interrupted Rarity attempt.
“Twilight?”
Silence. More silence. Twilight just did not had any will to face them.
“I think it will be better if we leave her for now“ Rarity whispered to Rainbow Dash.
“Well.. If you say so”. They left.
Several hours later Twilight decided to follow the advice and left the library. Weather was clean and sunny, birds happily chirped around and force field no longer was visible around the castle. None if this managed to made Twilight happier. In fact, she would prefer if it was heavy rain or snow, as she felt that even the weather was going against her, the only pony who behaved so bad at the wedding ceremony that she was thrown away by the groom and her own brother.
As she passed by other ponies, she heard murmurs around her. She thought that at this point rumors about what happened on the wedding already reached Ponyville. Fortunately, none of the ponies asked her about previous day.
After walking for a while without clear destination, first, Twilight thought about visiting Sugar Cube Corner. She quickly dismissed it: Pinkie Pie was always too cheerful pony, and Twilight decided that no amount of confetti will cheer her up, and in fact she was worried that it will make Pinkie Pie sad.
Instead, she went to Sweet Apple Acres.
Unfortunately, Twilight couldn't approach working Applejack and Big McIntosh in worse time: the day of Applejack didn't start too well. First, leaving her farm for participating in wedding meant that on her return she had more trees to buck. Big Mac didn't mind doing a little more work while Applejack was absent, but he could do only so much. To make things worse, beavers razed the barn once again to stole planks to build their own dams.
Applejack managed to sleep only three hours before starting the work and all sorts of troubles piled in such short amount of time made her head spin. If it was not enough, in the morning Cheerilee went by and said that Applebloom's performance in school declined recently and Applejack should spend more time, controlling that her sister is actually studying and not just trying to find her cutie mark.
“Ah say, we should build stronger fence. “ Big Mac tilted his head towards the remainings of the barn.
“Uhm, hello”. Twilight dug small hole in the ground with her hoof.
“And ah say we should forget about this at least 'til next year,” Applejack bucked a tree. “Heyah, Twilight. Long time no see”
“Uhm, I wanted to talk about yesterday.“ Twilight kicked small rock and looked on trajectory of its flight, not daring to look on Applejack.
“Big Mac, ya know that we don't have enough of money. Especially after we spent HALF OF ALL OF OUR SAVINGS on repairing the roof,” Applejack turned her head back to Twilight “Sugarcube, we are a little busy.”
“Eeyup, but if we don't manage to strengthen the fence, then beavers again will bite through it. And they'll raze other buildings. And we will have no money at all. Ah'm telling you, we need metal fence. At least on the part closer to the river.“
“Have you seen the prices of the fences?” She kicked another tree.
“Ah've seen the barn, Applejack. And Ah don't want to see our home in the same condition.”
Twilight stood silently listening their arguments for some period of time. Realizing that they have more serious problems, she went home.
It was the evening. Several hours after visiting the farm, Twilight gathered her thoughts together, analyzed last two days and finally decided her best course of actions. It was not easy decision for her, but sometimes hard decisions needed to be made.
Together with Spike and Owlowiscious she knocked on the door of Fluttershy's cottage. Her mood still was grim, but now she knew what had to be done, so she was much more resolved and confident.
“Oh, hello Twilight. Hello, guys”. Fluttershy opened the door. “Oh. I was just going to drink a tea, uhm, would you like to join, maybe?”
“Yeah, sure.“ Twilight forced a smile, while Fluttershy let them in and brought two more cups. For some time they just sipped the tea and discussed flora and fauna. Twilight had read several books about this topic, so she could easily talk with Fluttershy about all sort of migrations that occur in modern butterflies. She found this talk to be a little relaxing.
“Fluttershy.” Finally, Twilight decided to bring up the goal of her visit. “I want to ask you a favor.”
“Me? A favor? For you? I'm not quite sure if I'm capable...” Fluttershy wiggled on her pillow.
“I'm going for a little travel. It might take a while. Could you look after Spike and Owlowiscious for me, please?”
“I? Take care of owl? And baby dragon?” Judging by her voice, Fluttershy was really happy of such proposition.
“Good! I'll take this as 'yes'. Here, I brought a bag of gems.” Twilight opened her saddlebag and took large bag from it. ”This bag also has bits so you can buy more food for Spike and Owlowiscious. And you can take rest as payment for your service. There will be enough.”
Fluttershy didn't like to take money from her friends for taking care of their animals, but what if declining the money would be too rude? She definitely did not want to be ungrateful to her friends.
“Wait. Travel? You did not tell me.” Spike looked at Twilight. Most of the day he spend together with Cutie Mark Crusaders, and this definitely was news for him.
“And why are you leaving right now? It's so late now,“ Fluttershy looked through the window. Sun was almost gone already.
“I have a train tonight. I'm sorry, Spike, you weren't home when I went to buy the ticket,” Twilight lied. It was for the best.
“Will you be ok? I'm worrying about you” Fluttershy thought if she should ask about why Twilight is leaving, but decided that if Twilight doesn't want to tell her on her own, then it would be too rude to insist.
“Yes. Absolutely.“
“Can't I go with you, Twilight?” Spike once again looked at Twilight. Since she moved to Ponyville, they rarely traveled together as often as they were back in Canterlot.
“No. It's dealing with somewhat personal. You can guess what. Heh. Here, if you'll promise to behave yourself, you'll have this big, beautiful gem. Right now,“ Twilight levitated gem from bag almost as tall as Spike's head and stopped it in front of Spike.
“It will be my pleasure!” Spike licked and grabbed the gem. Spike liked Twilight, but he also liked the gems. So as far as he was concerned, if Twilight wanted him to stay and give him gem for it, it was win-win situation: having a gem and making Twilight happy was much better than having nothing at all and making Twilight angry or sad, after all. He ate gem.
“Fluttershy, you are expert at taking care of animals. That's why I'm asking you.”
“Well, uhm, all right. I'll do it”.
Shortly after that she went home. It was already dark, so she had to lighten the room with her spell. Levitating the quill, she started to write a letter.
“My dear Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike. I'd call you friends, but I don't think I deserve to be your friend anymore. I almost ruined the wedding of my own brother. I made all of you worried, even you have your own problems. And none of you deserve it.
“I put a huge burden on Cadance, who had to calm my brother. None of them deserved that.
“At this point, Celestia is probably hating me, so I can't continue studying anyway.
“I'm sincerely sorry that I lied about Spike and Owlowiscious to Fluttershy, but in the end I think I betrayed your trust so many times, that at this point I don't think one more time will matter. I love you all, but it will be better for all of us. I'm going far, far away, please don't look after me. I don't want any of you to worry about me ever again.“
She put the letter on the table under the book. Even if somepony enters, the letter would be hidden from the sight. That should give her enough of time.
“I heard that Everfree had beautiful, beautiful cliffs,“ Twilight said to no one as she went away from Ponyville without any intention to come back.